Plaster applying apparatus



June 19, 1962 J. KEMENY ETAL 3,039,164

PLASTER APPLYING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed 001:. 5, 1959 FIG. 3

MSZAO 67/ A/VF BY 7, 4%

United States Patent Ofiice M6 3,039,164 PLASTER APPLYING APPARATUS Janos Kerneny, 4 Rue de la Prairie, Bry sur Marne, France, and Laszlo Gubanyi, 5505 Woodside Ave., New York, N .Y.

Filed Oct. 5, 1959, Ser. No. 844,371 5 Claims. (Cl. 25-1045) The present invention relates to the application of plaster to a given surface such as a wall of a room.

At the present time it is conventional to apply such plaster by hand and this job requires a considerable amount of labor and skill. Although it has been proposed to space a plate from the wall surface to which plaster is to be applied so as to form between this wall surface and the plate a gap adapted to be filled by plaster, this solution is not satisfactory, because the plate adheres to the surface of the hardened plaster and when removed therefrom leaves a rough surface.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a structure which will greatly facilitate the application of plaster to a given surface so that the necessity of skilled labor will be greatly reduced and so that the plaster can be applied with greater convenience and in a shorter time than is now possible.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a structure of this type which will leave a perfectly smooth planar exterior surface on the hardened plaster.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus of the above type which is easily portable and which can be quickly, accurately and conveniently adjusted with respect to successive wall sections to which plaster is to be applied as well as with respect to moving of the entire apparatus about from room to room, for example.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which is easily adjusted so as to position the parts accurately for precise application of the plaster.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a plaster applying process which will guarantee perfect plastering even by amateurs.

With the above objects in view, the invention includes in a process for applying plaster to a given surface the step of holding in parallel relation to this surface a sub stantially rigid plate having a flexible sheet located against the plate between the latter and the surface, applying plaster to the gap between the sheet and surface until the gap is filled with plaster with an exterior surface of the latter engaging the flexible sheet, and, after the plaster hardens, shifting the plate to a new location and peeling the sheet from the hardened surface of the plaster.

Also with the above object in view, the invention includes an apparatus composed of a guide means adapted to expand vertically between the floor and the ceiling of a room parallel to a wall thereof and adjacent to this wall, a carriage means between the guide means and the wall and guided by the guide means for movement vertically While remaining parallel to the wall, upper and lower parallel rollers turna'bly carried by the guide means and supporting a flexible endless sheet which is carried by and guided on said rollers, and a rigid plate surrounded by the flexible sheet and carried by the carriage means between the rollers against a run of the sheet which is nearest the wall, so that after plaster in the gap between the run and wall hardens the carriage means can be moved along the guide means to shift the plate to a new location while peeling the above run of the endless flexible sheet from the surface of the hardened plaster.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the process of the invention as well as the principle of the invention;

FIG. 2' shows a stage in the process subsequent to that illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevation of one embodiment of an apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of the structure of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional plan View of the structure of FIGS. 3 and 4;

FIG. 6 is a side view of another embodiment of an apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a sectional plan of the structure of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic side view of another embodiment of a structure according to the present invention;

.FIG. 9 is an elevation of still another embodiment of a structure according to the invention;

FIG. 10 is a side elevation of the structure of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the structure of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary detailed illustration on an enlarged scale of a roller supporting structure of the embodiments of FIGS. 9-11; and

FIG. 13 illustrates the structure for shifting the parts of the embodiments of FIGS. 9-11.

Referring now to the drawings, the principle and process of the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Thus, the object is to apply plaster against the surface of the wall 2. In accordance with the invention the rigid plate 3 is placed in a position parallel to wall 2, and a flexible sheet 4 is placed against the plate 3 at the face thereof which is directed toward the wall 2. Thus, a gap'is defined between the wall 2 and sheet 4, and the plaster 1 is supplied into this gap in any suitable way such as being poured from a suitable container. The sheet 4 and plate 3 are held in the position illustrated in FIG. 1 until the plaster solidifies and then the plate 3 is removed, the flexible sheet 4 adhering to the surface of the plaster is then peeled off the surface of the plaster 1 in the manner shown in FIG. 2. While the plate 3 would be very diflicult to remove from the surface of the plaster and would provide a very rough surface if the plaster were applied directly against the plate 3, which is to say if the sheet 4 were not used, it has been found that by the use of the sheet 4 the plate 3 is very easily removed from the position shown in FIG. 1 and the sheet 4 is easily peeled from the plaster leaving a perfectly smooth exterior plaster surface.

The plate 3 can be made of any desired rigid material such as wood, plastic or metal, or any combination of these materials, and the flexible sheet 4 can be made of any flexible plastic, of rubber, of fabric, or even of a thin metal foil.

Once the first section of a wall is plastered in the abovedescribed manner, the elements 3 and 4 can be held in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1 slightly overlapping the already plastered section and in position defining a gap to be filled with plaster which will form a continuation of the already plastered section, and in this Way the work can proceed from section to section until the entire wall is plastered.

Referring now to FIGS. 3-5, the structure illustrated therein includes an adjustable guide means formed by a pair of spaced parallel angle irons 5 interconnected at their top ends by a horizontal angle iron to which a pair of nuts 6 are fixed in a position aligned with a pair of openings in the upper wall web of the horizontal angle iron. Screws 7 provided at their bottom ends with hand wheels 8 or the like, respectively, extends threadedly through the nuts 6 and the upper angle iron, and at their top ends these screws 7 turnably engage a horizontal plate 5:: (FIG. 4). This plate 5a is fixed to a pair of guide pins S'a (FIG. 3) which extend from the plate 5a downwardly through a pair of openings in the upper angle iron, so that the pins 5'11 guide the plate 5a vertically while the elevation of the plate 5a is controlled by the screws 7. A layer 9 of soft material such as rub ber is located in the top face of the plate 5a. This guide means can be placed in the manner illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 between a floor and ceiling of a room and the screws 7 can be turned to press the layer 9 against the ceiling and the bottom ends of the angle irons 5 against the floor so that the guide means is in this way wedged between the floor and ceiling.

A bottom plate 3a is placed next to the floor between the angle irons 5 and the flexible sheet 4 is placed against the plate 3a in the manner shown at the lower part of FIG. 4 with the upper end of the sheet hanging as shown at 4a. Now, the lower section of the wall 2 can be plastered with the plaster 1, and then the next plate 317 is placed on the plate 3a, the plate 3b having a lower stepped edge cooperating with the upper stepped edge of plate 3a shown in FIG. 4 so that the plate 3a in conjunction with the angle irons 5 properly position the plate 3b. In applying the plate 311 on the plate 3a the flexible sheet is moved to the position 4b. Then plaster is applied to the next-higher section at the elevation of the plate 3b. At this time the lower section may have hardened and the plate 3a can be removed and the lower portion of the sheet 4 peeled from the plaster while the plate 3b is maintained at the elevation thereof illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, or, if desired, a third plate identical with plate 312 may be placed on the latter with the sheet 4b extending almost up to the ceiling, and then the uppermost section is plastered. After such a vertical section extending from the floor almost to the ceiling has been plastered in this way the screws 7 are loosened and the guide means is shifted to the next section where the apparatus is used in the above-described manner and so on. A pair of sealing strips 10 (FIG. 5) may be placed between the plates 3a, 3b and the wall 2 to prevent latirons 5 are wider, as shown in FIG. 7, and at their inner surfaces these angle irons are formed with the guide 12 shown in FIG. 6. The plate 3a and the sheet 4 may be identical with these elements of FIGS. 3-5. However, the plate 3% is now in the form of a flexible sheet similar to the type of a roll top desk composed of separate sections of wood or the like hingedly connected to each other so that while element 3b is now flexible it can be unrolled and given'rigidity by the angle irons 5 so that it will function in the same way as a solid plate. The roll 3b of FIGS. 6 and 7 is carried by a bar 11 which is vertically guided in the parallel grooves 12 formed in the guides 5, and after the lowermost section in front of plate 311 is plastered the shaft 12 is gradually moved upwardly while the plastering continues so that the sheet 3b unrolls. Simultaneously the sheet 4 is maintained at all times between the plate 3a and the flexible wall 31; and the surface of the plaster so that when the operations have progressed to the point indicated in FIG. 6 almost the entire vertical section of the wall will have been plastered. Now the guide means is removed, the sheet 4 is peeled, and the apparatus is set up and the above process is repeated. Of course, the process and apparatus of the invention cannot continue all the way into the corners between the walls or all the way to the ceiling and in some cases all the Way to the floor but it can be applied to within a few inches of these limits and these remaining few inches can be easily plastered by hand.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 8 includes a rigid plate 3 provided along its upper and lower edges with rollers 14 and 15. A suitable means connects these rollers to the plate 3' for turning movement with respect thereto, and this means takes the form of the lower pair of ears 16 fixed to the plate 3 and turnably supporting the lower roller as well as a similar pair of upper ears. These upper ears, however, are formed with the notches 18 in. which a pair of blocks are respectively guided, a pair of compression springs 19 hearing against a rear projection of the plate 3, as shown in FIG. 8, and bearing against the bottom surfaces of the guide blocks so that these springs 19 urge the guide blocks in the notches 18. These blocks turnably support in suitable bores the free ends of shaft 17 on which the upper roll 15 is turnable, and the lower ears also support a shaft on which the lower roll 14 is turnable, these shafts extending through axial bores in the rollers. In the embodiment of FIG. 8 an endless flexible sheet 4 is guided around the rollers 14 and 15 and located against the face of rigid plate 3 which is directed toward the wall 2. Thus, the springs 19 urge the upper roller 15 away from the lower roller 14 to maintain the endless sheet 4 in taut condition. With this embodiment, after a section such as that illustrated in FIG. 8 is provided with plaster and the latter hZlI'dCHS, it is only necessary to grasp the rear projection of the plate 3 through the open sides of the endless sheet 4 and shift the plate 3 upwardly, for example, so that the rollers 14 and 15 turn, peeling the sheet 4 at the lowermost part thereof from the surface of the plaster while the plate 3 slides with respect to the sheet 4 until the assembly has been advanced through a distance suflicient to place it in proper position for the next section to be plastered.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 9l3, the structure includes a guide means formed by a pair of vertical longitudinally grooved rigid members 28 and 29 adapted to rest at their bottom ends on the floor. These members are interconnected at their top ends by a cross member 32 provided with vertical cutouts through which the parallel arms of a slide member 5a freely extend, this slide member 5a resting at its top end on the screw 7 which is carried by the nut 6. This nut 6 is carried by cross member 32 at a central portion of the latter, and a crank is fixed to the bottom end of the screw member. A layer 34 of soft rubber or the like is located on the top surface of the slide member 5a and it is apparent that by turning the crank 8 the layer 34 can be pressed against the ceiling while the bottom ends of members 28 and 29 are pressed against the floor. In order to guarantee that this guide means extend vertically, each member 28 and 29 is provided at its rear surface adjacent its bottom end with a rearwardly extending substantially rigid plate 36 supporting at its outer free end a roller 39, these plates 36 being respectively fixed with the members 28 and 29 as by being welded thereto. The plates 36 threadedly carry the manually turna-ble screw members 37 so that the latter can be turned against the floor in order to tilt the guide means until it is perfectly vertical, the spirit levels 33 being carried by the plates 39 so that the operator can tell by the position of the bubbles of the level 38 when the plates 36 are perfectly horizontal, the members 28 and 29 being perpendicular to the plates 36 so that when the latter are horizontal the members 28 and 29 are necessarily vertical. When the device is taken down and moved about, it can be tilted to an angular position and easily rolled on the rollers 39.

A carriage means is guided by the longitudinal grooves of members 28- and 29, for vertical movement, and this carriage means includes the pair of side members 20 and 21 whose free edges 26 and 27 extend into the grooves of the members 28 and 29, these grooves being limited by the webs 31 of the members 28 and 29. These members 28 and 29 have substantially an H-section, as is evident from FIG. 11. At their edges distant from the members 28 and 29 the side Walls 20 and 21 of the carriage means turnably support the rollers 14 and 15 which extend between the side walls 20 and 21, and the rigid plate 3 is fixed at its side edges to the latter, so that this plate 3 together with walls 20 and 21 forms the carriage means, and the rollers 14 and 15 have the sheet 4 located thereon and are positioned with respect to each other as described in connection with FIG. 8. The walls 20 and 21 also turnably support just over the upper roller 15 a pair of plates 40 covered with a coating 41 of metal, for example, and cords 43 are connected to the tiltable members 40 and pass around guide rollers 44 to a counterbalance Weight 42 which makes it quite easy for the operator to shift the carirage means with respect to the guide means 5 shown in FIGS. 9-11, this counterweight 42 simply resting against the rear surfaces of members 28 and 29. The operator need only move the counterweight 42 downwardly to raise the carriage means. The cords 43 hold the plates 40 at the angle illustrated in FIG. 10 so that plaster can be applied onto the elements 40, 41 to easily slide down the latter into the gap between the wall 2 and the sheet 4'. The rollers 44 are supported for rotation on the cross member of the guide means 5 in the manner shown most clearly in FIG. 9.

The manner in which the rolls 14 and 15 are supported is illustrated in FIG. 12. Thus, the walls and 21 fixedly carry pins 24 which are fixed to the inner races of ball bearings 25, and the outer races of these bearings are fixed within the open ends of the rigid cylinders which form the rollers 14 and 15.

Instead of moving the counter-weight 42 in order to shift the carriage means, the structure shown in FIG. 13 may be used. Thus, the Wall 20 turnably carries a tubular member 47 fixed to a gear 46 which meshes with the gear 45 which is fixed to the roller 14. A hand crank 50 is provided with a reduced end portion 49 which can be slipped into the tube 47, and this tube 47 is formed with a pair of opposed notches 51 into which a cross pin 48 can extend at its free ends which extend beyond the.

portion 49 of crank 50 so that in this way turning of the latter will turn the gear 46 and thus turn gear 45 and roller 14 to advance the carriage means. This structure of FIG. 13 may be applied to the roller 15 instead of the roller 14.

Instead of a substantially U-shaped member 5:1 as shown in FIG. 9, it is possible to use a pair of screw members threadedly carried by the cross member 32 where the legs of member 5a are located and each screw member has a top end provided with a layer of soft material and adapted to engage the ceiling, these screw members being individually turnable. Of course, in this case the screw 7 and crank 8 would be omitted.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of apparatus and method for applying plaster differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in apparatus and method for applying plaster including a rigid plate and a flexible sheet, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus to be used in conjunction with the application of plaster to a wall of a room which has a floor and a ceiling, comprising, in combination, adjustable guide means adjustable to a height equal to the distance between the floor and ceiling so that said guide means can be wedged between said floor and ceiling while extending substantially vertically; carriage means guided by said guide means for movement up and down the latter parallel to the wall to which plaster is to be applied; a pair of rollers parallel to each other, and respectively having horizontal axes, located one over the other, and turnably supported by said carriage means for respective rotation about their axes; an endless flexible sheet extending around and engaging said rollers; and a rigid plate located between and partially overlapping said rollers, carried by said carriage means, and having a face directed toward said wall and engaged by the run of said endless sheet' which is nearest to said wall, so that after plaster is placed in the gap between said wall and run and solidifies against the latter, said carriage means can be moved along said guide means shifting said plate and peeling said run from the surface of the plaster until said carriage means is in position for the next section of plaster.

2. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 and wherein a counterbalance means is supported by said guide means and cooperates with said carriage means for counterbalancing the weight of the latter together with the weight of said rollers, plate and sheet, so that said carriage means can be easily moved.

3. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 and wherein an adjusting means cooperates with said guide means for tilting the latter so that said guide means can be placed in a perfectly vertical position.

4. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 and wherein crank means is carried by said carriage means and cooperates with one of said rollers for rotation of the latter.

5. Apparatus as recited in calim 1 and wherein said guide means includes a pair of outer tubes, a pair of inner tubes telescopically slidable within said outer tubes and connected to each other for movement together, one of said outer tubes being formed with a longitudinal slot and the inner tube within said one outer tube being formed with a plurality of openings longitudinally distributed therealong and accessible through said slot, and a sprocket Wheel having peripheral projections which cooperate with said openings of said inner tube during turning of said sprocket wheel for axially advancing said inner tubes with respect to said outer tubes.

Great Britain Sept. 15, 1911 

